Johnny Thompson Jr. didn’t know he had seen Jalon Daniels play in high school until after Thompson arrived at Kansas.
It didn’t take long for the young running back to put two and two together and realize that the senior quarterback he had watched playing in high school for Lawndale, back when Thompson was a freshman in 2019, was the one now leading his college offense.
“Ended up doing some research, and I was like ‘Oh, this is the same guy,'” Thompson recalled in the spring. “Recognized the play style.”
That distinctive quarterback in turn became a key mentor for Thompson, a fellow Californian from Canoga Park, who has come to see Daniels as a sort of “big brother” figure.
“I feel like being able to talk to him during his process of getting here has helped a lot, being able to grow our connection before he got here,” Daniels said on Thursday. “He felt like I was somebody that he was able to lean onto when things got rough, and when you’re entering the college football realm of everything — and I think that he’s adjusted well.”
Daniels has watched Thompson grow over the course of his first two collegiate seasons, and the young running back now isn’t so new anymore (at least compared to the likes of freshmen John Kelly and Justin Thurman).
He is entering his redshirt sophomore year, and as an elusive player who does “a really good job of making guys miss in space” — even to his detriment on some occasions, as position coach Jonathan Wallace says — he is unlike the other primary options in KU’s backfield.
“Johnny has really done a good job of sort of honing in on who he is as a player, and what he can do for us and this team,” Wallace said in the spring. “I think that he’s taken steps daily in his approach to continue to improve, and it’s really exciting just to see even the growth and confidence that he’s developing.”
Thompson was a three-star running back out of Oaks Christian School in Westlake Village, a consensus three-star prospect who ran for 1,035 yards and 16 touchdowns and was first-team all-league as a senior.
When he arrived at KU, he and Daniels were two of the six Californians on the Jayhawks’ 2023 roster.
Daniels said he saw Thompson “work his tail off every single day, coming in as a freshman, not really knowing how college football’s going to work, going through the ups and downs of college football, realizing that it’s no longer high school football.”
“To be able to see him lock into the little things that he needs to do on and off the field has been tremendous,” Daniels said.
In the meantime, they built a bond. And as much as Daniels has seen on the field in his numerous years as KU’s starting quarterback, “not making everything about football” has been the foundation of that connection.
“You know, me and him we could hang out together, have a full day together,” Thompson said, “and throughout that day there will be certain segments where we’re going over football and there are certain segments where we’re just talking about life, and I think that’s been the best part throughout my relationship with him.”
Daniels said he’s “very interested to be able to see what (Thompson) does this fall camp.” The redshirt sophomore, who had five carries in mop-up duty last season, could be in position for a No. 3 spot at running back this time around behind Daniel Hishaw Jr. and Leshon Williams, depending on how redshirt freshman Harry Stewart III works himself back into the picture as he’s practicing again following a spring injury.
“It’s exciting to be able to see the amount of steps that he’s taken, the improvement that he’s taken over his couple years here,” Daniels said of Thompson.
Kansas senior Jalon Daniels participates in a drill during practice Thursday, July 24, 2025 in Lawrence.
Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World